openDemocracy - England

Britain and England: a case of split identity,

English nationalism vs British nationalism, , Gareth Young

Breaking-Up Britain ,

Englishness is a cultural identity, , Paul Kingsnorth

The English Revolution, , Tom Griffin

This England, What England? (Gordon Brown and the denial of England), , Gareth Young

Nationalism and the English left, , Tom Griffin

England: Nation or not?, , David aka Britology Watch

David (Cambridge, Britology Watch): I’d like to draw a new 10 Downing Street e-petition to the attention of OurKingdom readers. This reads as follows:

Brown must recognise England's claim of right, , Gareth Young

Gareth Young (Lewes, CEP): The Scottish Claim of Right of 1988 was signed by all the Scottish Labour MPs, with the exception of Tam Dalyell.� In 1997, with the advent of the Labour Government of the UK, one third of that initial cabinet (8 out of 24) had signed that claim and were thus pivotal in influencing the Labour UK Government, which issued the white paper, the Scotland Devolution Bill 1998.

The perils of a progressive English nationalist,

Team UK: A Political Football,

The English Democrats and the far right, , Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Arthur Aughey recently described English nationalism as 'a mood not a movement.' The English Democrats represent one attempt to change that, but it is an attempt which English nationalist blogger Gareth Young suggests is deeply problematic.

Who speaks for England?, , Guy Aitchison

Labour can no longer rely on Scotland to govern England, , Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Former Europe Minister Denis McShane made a particularly interesting contribution to the post-mortem on Glasgow East in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday:

English nationalism still a mood not a movement, , Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): In the latest edition of Parliamentary Brief, Arthur Aughey looks at how Ken Clarke's Democracy Task Force has attempted to answer the English Question. Although sceptical on the details, he suggests that Clarke's approach reflects distinctive conservative principles that may point the way to a solution.

Welsh NHS patients feel they are 'second-class citizens', , Tom Griffin

What are we fighting for? Libertarians and nationalists must make common cause, , David aka Britology Watch

David (Cambridge, Britology Watch): There has been much discussion recently – including on Britology Watch – about whether English nationalism can be reconciled with progressive politics; and whether progressives need to espouse the nationalist cause, associate it with left-of-centre values, and thereby prevent it from falling into the hands of the far right.

Is Labour flirting with English pauses?, , Tom Griffin

The madness of Ken Clarke, , Gareth Young

An England for Labour?, , Tom Griffin

OurKingdom
OurKingdom
Tom Griffin
OurKingdom
England
English Parliament
Labour Party

Author: Tom Griffin

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:41:00 +0000

openDemocracy - Scotland

Referendum rethink - The Liberal Democrats and the future of Scotland, , Tom Griffin

Where have all the Scottish radicals gone? (with apologies to Joan Baez), , Gerry Hassan

Scotland independent?, , Gerry Hassan

Salmond puts independence on the agenda, , Tom Griffin

Calman's Catch-22, , Tom Griffin

Calman report calls for 'Scottish income tax', , Tom Griffin

The Commission calls for income tax to be reduced by 10p in the pound in Scotland with a commensurate reduction in the block grant from Westminster. The Scottish Government would have the option to make up the difference by setting its own income tax.�

One limitation is that the Scottish variation would apply equally at all rates. Holyrood would not be able to raise the top rate while leaving the standard rate unchanged, or vice-versa. Such a power would threaten the UK's 'social union' according to the Commission.

This is one instance of a general theme in the report, the delicate balancing act between deeper and more accountable devolution, on the one hand, and the continued maintenance of the union on the other.

In this the report reflects its origins. The Calman Commission was created by the Scottish Parliament after Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats outvoted the SNP minority government, which opposed the exercise because the option of independence was excluded from its remit.

SNP Constitution Minister�Michael Russell�welcomed some of the report's proposals�for greater powers for Holyrood, but argued that it did not go far enough.

At present, we have a 'pocket money parliament' - under the Calman proposals, Scotland would have a Saturday job but the pay would be deducted from our pocket money. Scotland has to go much further than a system of the Treasury giving with one hand and taking away with the other - which is why the Scottish Parliament and Government�need fiscal autonomy and full financial powers.�

The report received a�warmer reception�from Labour Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy:

The UK Government agrees that financial accountability could be achieved by moving to a system where a greater proportion of the Scottish Parliament's budget comes from their own decisions.� We welcome the Commission's model which provides a promising and well evidenced basis on which we can work with the Scottish Parliament and others to bring forward practical proposals.�
The suggested changes are complex, and require detailed and careful consideration.� Along with Her Majesty's Treasury, we will assess, and explore how to implement these proposals.

Labour, the�Conservatives, and the�Lib Dems�have now set up a steering group to take forward the report's recommendations. That means, as�Brian Taylor�notes, that it is likely to form the basis of UK government policy whoever wins the next election.

Together with the Scottish Government's�National Conversation, the Calman report forms the basis for a struggle between two competing visions of Scotland's future over the next few years.�

Dìomhair *,

Death of the Scottish Press

OurKingdom
Scotland

Author: openDemocracy

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:19:26 +0000

Scottish budget voted down, , Tom Griffin

SNP seeks budget deal, , Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin (London,�OK): An interesting situation is developing in Scotland, where the SNP minority government is trying to get its budget through the Holyrood parliament. Last year's spending plans got through because of Labour abstentions, but that may be less likely this time around.

Calman, shared social citizenship, and the defence of the union, , Tom Griffin

Calman issues first report on future of devolution, , Tom Griffin

Competing narratives over Scottish tax report, , Tom Griffin

Calman gets the Whitehall view, , Tom Griffin

Fear and Loathing in Glenrothes, , Mike Small

Mike Small (Fife, Bella Caledonia): What's a more motivating force, fear or hope? Across the pond Obama has inspired a generation, re-inspired another and put 9 million people on the electoral register. Here a halving of the Labour Partys majority has been represented as a historic victory. Here it was politics as usual, and bitter negative politics at that. Labour have successfuly played on peoples fears of economic collapse. But can Britain be held together by fear? Where is a credible positive agenda emerging from London? It's not going to be the Olympics or the sight of a UK football team emerging at Hampden comprising 11 Englishmen.

Labour holds Glenrothes, , Tom Griffin

Murphy under pressure over HBOS leak, , Tom Griffin

SNP bids for a majority on local income tax,

�Tom Griffin (London, OK):The Scottish Government's plans to replace council tax moved centre-stage in the Glenrothes by-election yesterday. On a visit to the Fife constituency, Chancellor Alistair Darling condemned the SNP's local income tax proposal as a "ridiculous idea."

Cameron's unionist problem, , Tom Griffin

Glenrothes no longer a banker for SNP, , Tom Griffin

HBOS merger questioned, , Tom Griffin

openDemocracy - Northern Ireland

A new leader for the SDLP,

Tories undeterred by bumpy start in Northern Ireland, , Tom Griffin

Wild Catastrophism to Mild Moderation in Northern Ireland, , Arthur Aughey

Racism in Northern Ireland, , Damian O'Loan

An Irish lesson for the Middle East?, , Tom Griffin

The struggle for the soul of Irish republicanism, , Tom Griffin

Sinn Féin seek new alliance of the Irish left, , Tom Griffin

Consultative Group on the Past sparks unavoidable debate, , Damian O'Loan

90 years of Irish Parliaments, , Tom Griffin

SF don't believe Cameron 'attached to the union', , Tom Griffin

The politics of Hunger, , Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin (London,�OK): Steve McQueen's award-winning film about the 1981 hunger strike prompted mixed opinions on OurKingdom. Both Michael Calderbank and Arthur Aughey noted an absence of wider political context in the film. Calderbank nevertheless found much to be admired in Hunger, while Aughey was more critical of a lack of Protestant perspectives.

Ireland and Gaza: comparing like with like?, , Tom Griffin

Conor Cruise O'Brien and republicanism, , Tom Griffin

Reshaping the dry stone wall of Irish history, , Arthur Aughey

Arthur Aughey (University of Ulster) reviews Irish Protestant Identities Edited by Mervyn Busteed, Frank Neal and Jonathan Tonge, Manchester University Press 2008 pp389 + xvii. In his careful response to the scholarly papers he concludes with a lesson for Gordon Brown that devolution, especially to Northern Ireland as it is now, has proundly altered what it means to be British - and that this can no longer be defined by the 'centre'.�

Cameron is standing up for the Union, , Chekov

Chekov (Three Thousand Versts): Lord Smith makes a handful of curious points pertaining to realignment of the Conservative and Ulster Unionist parties, currently being effected by David Cameron and Sir Reg Empey.� The Liberal Democrat peer appears confused as to the nature of the Conservative and Unionist force which the two parties intend to create and inconsistent in his criticisms of Cameron’s unionism.� �

Northern Ireland Bill of Rights meets Unionist No, , Damian O'Loan

Damian O'Loan (Paris): Northern Ireland's Human Rights Commission has delivered its report advising the Labour government on the content of a NI Bill of Rights. Acting on recommendations from a cross-party and civic society Forum, It has done well to reduce an unfocussed report into this clear document. It is important for a few reasons:

Northern Ireland Bill of Rights: people not politics, , Patrick Corrigan

Cameron fails to move unionism forward, , Damian O'Loan

Damian O'Loan (Paris): David Cameron was on the offensive in his speech to the Ulster Unionist Party conference on Saturday. This was a bold speech, bordering on reckless. His stated ambitions for the pact are mass appeal, consolidating the Union and Northern Irish participation at cabinet level. It repairs a split dating from the Thatcher era. He failed, however, to outline what exactly it will mean in terms of decision-making processes, policy and message, and concerns about impartiality prior to the speech, noted here by Tom Griffin, appear well-founded.

Conservatives will polarise Northern Ireland politics, , Trevor Smith

Trevor Smith (York, House of Lords): The formal re-uniting of the Ulster Unionist Party and Conservatives is major blunder by David Cameron: it will further polarise politics in Northern Ireland. It will invite a response not only from the other legitimate political parties in Ulster but, worse, is likely to provoke further violence from the dissident Republican para-military groups.

Cameron at the UUP conference, , Tom Griffin

openDemocracy - Wales

What is the real case for more powers? , , Tomorrow's Wales

Tomorrow's Wales (Cardiff): The report in the Western Mail on Friday on Sir Emyr Jones Parry’s call for politicians to give concrete examples of laws they would like to see passed in order to better explain why the Assembly needs primary law-making powers raises some interesting question about what the Convention’s role is and how the case is best made for�giving the Assembly�primary legislative�powers.

Fiscal federalism, , John Osmond

John Osmond (Cardiff, Institute of Welsh Affairs): Hints from the Prime Minister on future funding options for the Scottish Parliament are rare and usually Delphic in their meaning. So close attention was paid to Gordon Brown’s relatively unambiguous remarks on the theme in a speech delivered to a CBI Scotland dinner in Glasgow in early September.

A Labour-Lib Dem pact for Cardiff in 2011?, , Tom Griffin

Politics in 21st Century Wales, , Tom Griffin

One Wales coalition in jeopardy, , Tom Griffin

Mobilising the young: The lesson for Wales, , OurKingdom

Call for evidence on Welsh finance, , Tom Griffin

Welsh democracy without ITV , , Geraint Talfan Davies

Geraint Talfan Davies (Institute of Welsh Affairs, Wales Watch): The more you look at Ofcom’s proposals for reducing ITV’s programming for the nations and the regions of the UK, the more you sense that the endgame for ITV is approaching. And it’s happening just when the clouds are gathering over our newspapers, too. These are unprecedented crisis years for the media in Wales.

Welsh Assembly Members want law-making powers, , Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): Most Welsh Assembly members want the same law-making powers as the Scottish Parliament, a new poll has found. The survey for the Western Mail comes ahead of today's inaugural meeting of the All Wales Convention, which will examine the case for further devolution.

Welsh NHS patients feel they are 'second-class citizens', , Tom Griffin

Welsh finance commission to work with Calman, , Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The Welsh Assembly Government marked the first anniversary of the Labour-Plaid Cymru One Wales Agreement today by announcing new details of the Commision that will look at the principality's tax and spending arrangements.

The All Wales Convention lines up, , Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The executive committee for the All Wales Convention was announced on Thursday, ahead of the body's first meeting on 14 July.

'A new phase of territorial politics in the UK' - Constitution Unit, , Tom Griffin

The Tories and Devolution, , Bethan Jenkins

Bethan Jenkins (Neath, Plaid AM): It is somwhat timely for me to be writing about the Conservatives and their attitudes towards Welsh devolution in the week that Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Director of the Institute of Welsh Politics at Aberystwyth University, has written an open letter to David Cameron emphasising the fact that Cameron "cannot afford to avoid" Welsh devolution and its future progression -

OurKingdom
OurKingdom
Bethan Jenkins
OurKingdom
Conservative Party
Wales

Author: Bethan Jenkins

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:52:47 +0000

Raymond Williams: A Warrior's Tale by Dai Smith, , Daniel G. Williams

Daniel G. Williams reviews Raymond Williams: A Warrior’s Tale by Dai Smith.

Tory voters in Wales back a law-making parliament , , Guy Aitchison

Update: Former Tory AM Glyn Davies is not at all surprised by these figures. He believes that giving law-making powers to the Assembly is the best way to save the Union and restore constitutional stability and explains why in his blog.�

Devolution's dark logic, , Normal Mouth

Normal Mouth (Rhondda, blogger): A fortnight ago Sir David Varney published the second instalment of his review into Northern Ireland's competitiveness. The first drew comment from a Welsh perspective only from Adam Price and me - suprising given that the review's remit was to investigate whether a lower rate of corporation tax would boost a part of the UK economy that has historically lagged behind others.

The Welsh results examined "Anyone but Labour",

378 +6

Devolved nations challenging PFI,

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon) Scotland's Finance Minister, John Swinney, came in for sustained criticism last week, when he published the responses to the consultation on his proposed Scottish Futures Trust. Several respondents suggested that his plan to replace the Private Finance Initiative left key questions unaddressed:

Jefferson would not have been Salmond's ally,

Normal Mouth (Rhondda, blogger): Alex Salmond has been in the USA this week quoting Thomas Jefferson. Fortunately for English sensibilities he did not invoke the great man’s suggestion that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” but chose instead the rather more anodyne “we are a people capable of self-government, and worthy of it.”